The theme and the issue Foer presented in the book “Eating Animals” is not a new issue and I have read a book similar to this in my Food class but what makes this book apart from other books is that he added personalities to it. He tells us stories to make it more interesting even though sometimes he can be subjective but full with facts. There’s many issues discussed in this book connecting to public health, environmental costs, culture, myths, and our eating habits. The reason for him to start writing this book was his son was about to be born and he was curious about the food industry and what will he be feeding him? Foer decided to visit the factory and famer during the night to find out more about the industry. This make me think about Sullivan from the Meadowlands.
Chapter 1: Throughout high school and college Foer himself struggle with being a vegetarian. He was on and of from being a vegetarian until now he’s a vegetarian he and his wife share the same values and morals. But sometimes they have their cheat they meaning that they will eat steak if they feel like it. I respect people who are vegetarian more and more because they are the people who are aware of the issues and decide to do something about it. Why we eat what we eat? It’s their choice. The book started with how he was taught to eat everything and anything in order to survive but there was a part where his grandmother refused to eat pork because it’s not kosher even though it will help her survive. This quote sum up the book pretty well “If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save” it appears both in the beginning and in the end of the book.
Chapter 2: He talked about how everyone’s eating habit is different and what is acceptable in each social norm. How it is acceptable to eat dogs in other parts of the world but not here in the United States. Dog meat is used as medicines in countries such as China and Korea. There are 13 to 16 million dogs consumer each year. I find it hard to believe and shocking that more and more people are eating dogs. What’s next? Cats? I don’t know how I feel about this. Foer also talked about Tuna how there are many diseases in these fishes and how many animals are killed in order to catch the tunas. Especially when they are the most eaten fish in the US. Foer said that 21,000 animals is the number a single person will eat in their life time. When I see the number I was in shock. Lately I have been trying to eat meat only in one of my meal per day I can feel that my body is fresher.
Chapter 3: Foer discusses many terms and concept to help us understand the ideas and concepts better. Which is a good thing since I have no idea what anthropocentrism, anthropodenial, etc means. He also talked about chicken cage and factory as well as the organization PETA. I watched a documentary of how the organic and free range chicken farms killed the chicken it even though it is cleaner with no antibiotic this still disturb me. I stopped eating chicken for a week. We need to try and raise awareness with this issue.
Chapter 4: Foer seek around to gather his research information but I think it is hard to gather all the information since more of the companies and factory owners denied the interview for example Monsanto. “If I misuse a corporation’s logo, I could potentially be put in jail; if a corporation abuses a billion birds, the law will protect not the birds, but the corporation’s right to do what it wants” (93).
Chapter 5: Talked about the epidemics that animals carry such as SARS from chicken or mad cow disease. Factory farms influence our health in one way or another.
Chapter 6: The facts in this chapter are very scary. How they use artificial insemination to get 90% of their pigs. Pig farm produces 7.2 million pounds of pig manure per year, 344 million for cows, and 6.6 million for chickens. The waste is then dumped into lagoons that can cause quicksand.
Chapter 7: This chapter he discussed in more details about the factory farms he visited. Foer have respect for some of them. Niman ranch made a robust improvement even though his own board kicked him out cause Bill the owner wants to improve his factory farm ethnics. Even Bill Niman said he wouldn’t be eating beef from the Niman Ranch.
Chapter 8: Thanksgiving – Foer talks about where and how the turkey on our table comes from. Turkey throats are slits to help them spare painful death? Where’s the logic in that?
Questions
What is your reason for eating animals?
Will you ever eat dogs? Is it still acceptable to eat homeless dogs or sick dogs?
What do you guys think about PETA?
How will the facts behind factory farm change you?
Do we care about where our food comes from?
We are what we eat?
